Lisa Samson
Songbird (2003)
Author: Lisa Samson
Genre: Christian (Denominational-Assembly of God)/Literary
Plot Summary:
Charmaine Hopewell, wife to an evangelical minister and blessed with a remarkable singing voice, reflects in this fictional work on the difficult path life has taken her. At the age of eleven, Charmaine is abandoned by her mother. She is taken in by a generous and religious family where she finds her first real home and becomes baptized in her newfound faith. Soon thereafter, she is wrenched from her foster family by tragic circumstances. Following several foster homes and a stint as a waitress at a laundromat/bowling alley, Suds ‘N’ Strikes, Charmaine begins her blossoming career as a singer. While performing at a church function, Charmiane she meets her husband, Harlan, and joins the gospel choir in his travelling ministry. Through all her ups and downs, Charmaine grapples with the contradictions and demands of religious life, modern-day reality, and a shameful secret she fears will ultimately destroy her happy home. SPOILER: Charmaine discovers that the mother who abandoned her long ago is a victim of mental illness. Charmaine also suffers from severe depression, treating her illness with therapy and antidepressants. She shamefully conceals all this from her husband, who speaks out publicly against the use of pharmaceuticals in the treatment of mental illness and instead advocates a reliance on faith. Only through the grace of God, honesty, and courage can Charmaine reveal her secret, come to terms with the mother who abandoned her, and find peace in her present life. Although Charmaine accepts her past and finds temporary resolution to her problems, she understands that life offers no easy answers to all that troubles her. She carries on day by day, relying on simple kindnesses, a little humor, and her belief that God has his reasons for everything.
Geographical Setting: Lynchburg, VA; brief stints in Atlantic City, NJ and small towns all over the South. The geographical setting is less important than the home settings - a boarding house, several motor homes, and a small house full of antiques.
Time Period: 1960s to 1990s
Appeal Characteristics:
Lisa Samson combines in her work Songbird the pain of profound loss, spiritual renewal, and down-to-earth humor to convey the life struggles of Charmaine Hopewell. Written from the perspective of Charmaine, Samson gives depth and complexity to her main character. Secondary characters, although essential to the story, are mainly important in relation to Charmaine’s introspective narrative. This is clearly a tale of one woman’s challenge to reconcile her troubled past with her present. Charmaine spends most of the novel travelling, either from foster home to foster home, or as the wife of a travelling evangelical minister. This adds to Charmaine's deep desire for a real home and family, adding metaphor to the psychological drama. The setting is more complimentary than central to the narrative. Samson does not dwell long on scenic descriptions. Moreover, Samson devotes the majority of her tale to dialogue between characters and the thoughts and musings of her protagonist. Songbird follows Charmaine from her childhood into adulthood. Although the story is compelling, Samson does not hurry Charmaine’s narrative. This contemporary story progresses easily, giving a realistic, linear portrayal of Charmaine’s struggle and growth. Samson’s humorous and unpretentious style connect the reader to her characters. This inspirational tale confronts several controversial issues, such as substance abuse, foster care abuse, the use of antidepressants and other medications to treat mental illness, and the role of T.V. evangelism in people’s lives. Samson thoughtfully examines these issues through Charmaine's eyes with a blend of compassion, delicacy, and light humor.
Read-alikes: Samson has written two series of historical Christian romances (Highlanders and Abbey), and she has only recently started writing contemporary Christian fiction. Her 2004 novel, Tiger Lillie was nominated for a Christy, and is another non-gentle Christian read about sisters, spousal abuse, and extreme wedding planning. Readers looking for a tale about characters who find redemption in facing painful family secrets from their troubled pasts will find Linda Nichol’s In Search of Eden a good fit. The novel follows the lives of several characters: Miranda, David, and Joseph. Miranda, having given up her baby for adoption under pressure from her mother, finally begins to search for her child and discovers along the way the terrible truth from her own mother’s past. Miranda’s love interest, Joseph, struggles with the loss of his former girlfriend to his brother, David. Meanwhile, David’s home life is complicated by the adoption of Eden and his wife’s anxieties over being a flawed mother. Similar to Samson, Nichols enriches her novel with complex and interesting characters. Their lives and struggles are at the center of the novel. Another novel by Linda Nichols, Not A Sparrow Falls, centers on the life of Mary, a young woman who conceals her heartache over the loss of her family and her sordid past from the man she loves, a widowed pastor. Nicholas combines realism, humor and rich characterization in her tale of redemption, as Mary finds a way to come clean. Readers who are attracted to Songbird’s controversial themes, flawed characters, gradual pace, and realistic, if not disconcerting portrayal of life as a Christian may find Vinita Hampton Wright’s Grace at Bender Springs an excellent choice. Set in small town Kansas, the novel follows the lives of several individuals, most of whom battle with demons from their past; the pastor’s wife, Sarah, struggles with despair over her troubled past; Tony, a teenage boy. attempts suicide; and an elderly woman, Mamie Rupert, copes with the secrets from her past and the frustrations she faces day to day. The tribulations of the townspeople are ultimately assuaged by a common purpose and a belief in God’s grace. Sharon Hinck’s The Secret Life of Becky Miller will appeal to those who enjoyed Songbird’s humor and lighter moments. The novel is narrated from the perspective of suburban mom Becky Miller. Pressured to be Supermom and Wonder Wife, Becky mitigates her troubles by endulging in imaginative scenarios of alternate life paths. Although the novel moves at a faster pace than Songbird, the personal and confessional element, as well as the added humor, of this character-driven narrative will attract Samson readers. Readers drawn to psychological dramas where the protagonist yearns to uncover a family secret may find David Lewis’s Coming Home a good read. The main character, Jessie, a young woman in her early 20s, visits her estranged grandmother en route to begin her new life in Portland as a graduate student. She hopes to find some closure to the mysterious death of her mother. Her journey leads her forgiveness and a renewed faith in God. The mystery element of Coming Home is reminiscent of Songbird in that the female protagonists do not know the truth behind the tragedies of their childhood. Both authors reveal bit by bit the secret while slowly delving into the lives of their characters. The stories are both character-drive and center on the life on young women. Another readalike is Club Sandwich (2005), an engagingly-told story of a woman's struggle to keep her chaotic life and business together. Few inspirational writers tackle the theme of mental illness the way that Samson does (with tolerance and, occasionally, humor), but there are plenty of inoffensive-but-not-gentle books about dysfunctional and nontraditional families: Catherine Palmer's The Happy Room (2002) deals with a disturbing childhood spent on a mission in Africa, Gail Godwin's Evensong (1999) combines colorful characters and reflective narration to explore the many facets of faith, and Angela Elwell Hunt's The Debt (2004) is a richly told story of an adopted son returning to his televangelist family and the ensuing crisis of faith. Anne Tyler's Saint Maybe (1992) is a strongly-written, often humorous story of an adopted single-parent family. I Never Promised You a Rose Garden by Joanne Greenberg covers the same topic as Songbird and will give a reader that is looking for more information on schizophrenia a wider view. If a reader is looking for a readalike that offers the same complex relationships and leisurely paced read, Mourning Ruby by Helen Dunmore is suggested. Bad Girls of the Bible and What We Can Learn from Them by Liz Curtis Higgs is a possible readalike for Songbird simply because some of Bible characters that Myrtle Charmaine likens herself to are described in much greater detail in this book. Devine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells and Songbird both provide the same down home Southern feel of the characters and setting. For readers that enjoy the upfront and honest personality of Myrtle Charmaine Devine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood might be a good fit. One warning, Devine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhoodis not a gentle read. There are scenes including violence, profanity and questionable morals. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd is a readalike to consider if the reader enjoys the general tone of Songbird. Both books have a similar setting, in the South and involve an inventive and somewhat adventurous main character. Finally, Samson cites Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar (1972) as an influence on her writing, and this is definitely a compelling portrayal of depression, although readers should be warned that this is not at all an inspirational, gentle, or funny book.
Red Flags: Negative portrayal of Nixon-hating, pot-smoking Vermont liberals and Methodists, tolerance of anti-depressants. This is not a gentle book, but scenes of abduction, sex, violence, and illegitimate children are not portrayed graphically.
Tiger Lillie (2004)
Author: Lisa Samson
Genre: Christian/Literary
Plot Summary:
Lillie Bauer is a "Strong Hungarian Woman," an adrenaline junkie, and the daughter of a blind Episcopalian priest. She loves the color orange and soy milkshakes. She is also the co-owner of a new event planning business called Extreme Weddings and Extremely Odd Occasions. Cristoff is her business partner, florist, and best friend and he is a celibate gay man. It's no wonder her nickname is Tiger Lillie. Though she's very close to her friends and family, Lillie is continually unlucky in the romance department. She clings to hope of a love lost; Teddy, her childhood best friend and sweetheart, mysteriously disappeared more than a decade ago. As she tries to get over Teddy and move on, Lillie discovers that her younger sister Tacy is being emotionally and physically abused by her husband Rawlins. When Tacy gives birth to Hannah Grace, Lillie knows that she must do something to rescue her sister and niece from Rawlins. SPOILER: When Lillie tries to take Hannah Grace away from Rawlins (at Tacy's desperate request), Rawlins forces Tacy into their Range Rover to pursue. Tacy fights Rawlins while he is driving and their vehicle careens off the road into a ravine, killing both of them.
Geographical Setting: Baltimore, Maryland
Time Period: Present day (2004)
Appeal Characteristics:
Tiger Lillie was a 2005 Christy Award finalist for general fiction. The book is full of strong, quirky, and endearingly flawed characters, at least one of whom is bound to remind you of someone you know. Samson pushes the Christian fiction envelope in describing Tacy's situation, with her enduring emotional and physical abuse by her extremely fundamentalist husband. Lillie and her family draw strength from each other as well as their close friends, and they would do anything to help one another. Part of the family's strength comes from their strong Hungarian identity with a troubled past. The first-person narration alternates between Lillie's conversational style and Tacy's diary-like entries making for a compelling read. Tacy's shorter sections tend to be unnerving and chilling, adding a touch of suspense to the story.
Read-alikes: Fans of Samson may want to try Songbird, about a women struggling to reconcile her beliefs (and those of her televangelist husband) with a mentally ill mother and her own depression. Another strong-willed, off-beat Christian woman takes the lead in Patty Sleem's Back in Time: ditzy Maggie Dillitz, a prone-to-disaster pastor, flees from an distressingly uptight congregation straight into a murder mystery. If a reader was intrigued by storytelling in dual viewpoints, try Truelove and Homegrown Tomatoes by Julie Cannon, a loving protrayal of a small-town family as they deal with the loss of a husband and father. Terri Blackstock's Christian suspense stories, such as Evidence of Mercy, also depict women who must rely on themselves and their faith to pull through danger. Traci Peterson's Controlling Interests also has a Christian woman faced with a manipulative male figure, as Denali Deveraux discovers what her domineering grandfather is hiding about her mother's unexplained suicide. In a literary style that would appeal to those outside of the Christian fiction niche, Vinita Hampton Wright's Velma Still Cooks in Leeway (2000) presents a cast of quirky and interesting characters and Velma, a small-town widow with an interesting occupation. Sadie's Song (2001) by Linda Hall and Serenity Bay (2000) by Bette Nordberg are not all sweetness and light, dealing with domestic abuse in Christian families and carried by memorable characters. Traci DePree's Aprons on a Clothesline (2005) is compelling women's literature with the main character Virginia struggling together to overcome a serious illness, strengthened by her faith and family. If the ties that Lillie had to her family's troubled Hungarian past were an appeal, try Al & JoAnna Lacy's historical fiction title, Undying Love (2002). Beware that Samson's earlier novels are historical Christian romances (The Temptation of Aaron Campbell, Love's Ransom, Indigo Waters) and therefore they are not suitable readalike suggestions for a reader who enjoyed Tiger Lillie.
Red Flags: A gay character; brief (but mild) descriptions of sexual situations; emotional and physical abuse; a graphic (but brief) description of the Crucifixion; character deaths; numerous mentions of paprika and sour cream
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